Heel-press with automatic ejector



E. HA'NSALPAKAR.

HEEL PRESS WITH AUTOMATIC EJECTOR.

APPLICATION FILED JAN- 7. l9l8- 1,332,037. Patentd Feb 24,1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET T- E. HANSALPAKAR. HEEL PRESS WITH AUTOMATIC EJECTOR.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 7, 191B- Patented Feb. 24,1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

' Li /NVENTL7R:

UNITED STATES PATENT ()li l ltll i.

EDWIN HANSALPAKAR, OF CAMPELLO, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIG-NOR TO BROGKTON HEEL COMPANY, INC, 01: BROCKTON, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

HEEL-PRESS WITH AUTOMATIC EJECTOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 24, 1920.

To all whom it may concern:

lie it known that I, EDWIN l'laxsanranan, a citizen of the United States, residing at Campcllo. in the county ol Norfolk and State of l/assaclmsetts, have invented new and useful lmprovenwnts in Heel-Presses with Automatic Ejector-s, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to machines of the type disclosed in my prior Patent No. 1362.335 granted April 9, 1918, in which newly built heels are placed by an operator who continually builds heels in a position beside the niacl'iine and places them therein whenever a suflicient number of such heels have been made. The heels supplied thus to the machine are automatically put under pressure immediately upon being adi'nitted to the machine, are gradually propelled toward a discharge outlet while being all the time kept under pressure, and are automatical ly ejected when arriving at the discharge point. its long as they remain in the machine the heels are arranged in tiers, sepa rated by trays, commonly called boards, and when. ejected from the machine, the heels pass into a receptacle and the boards are returned to a point where they can be easily reached by the heel building operator to be taken for use to support another tier oi newly built heels.

In the operation ol the machine referred to the stack of heels and boards is propelled through a guideway by the action oi a table on which the board with its lead of heels is placed. which table carries each board with the tier of heels supported thereon to the entrance of the guideway, and. adds it to the stack already therein, and in doing so advances the entire stack a distance equal to the combined height of the heels andthe thickness of the board. less whatever compression is suflered by the heels due to the resistance of the entire stack to being thus propelled. Such heels, however, may vary considerably in. height, some high heels being as much as two, three, or even more, times as high as the lowest heels; and it frequently happens that the operator of the same machine is required to change from one style of heel to another. That is, after tompleting an order for high ieels the opjectionable results is liable to occur.

position.

erator may be required to build a number of low heels, and the reverse. Thus the length of the steps of progression of the stack of heels in the press may vary at dit ferent times, and may be greater or less than the height of the heels next approaching the discharge point. In the machine shown in my aforesaid patent, the ejector is operated once whenever the table is caused to propel the stack in the manner above described, with the result that in consequence of the feeding in of heels higher or lower than those already in the press one of several ob- Either the ejector may remove the board resting on the topmost tier of heels, without removing the underlying heels. or the heels engaged by the ejector may fail to clear the edge of the discharge opening and may be jammed and injured, or a board may fail to clear and so becomes jammed, or two or more boards ma be removed at the same time, of which only one can be returmid. in the desired way and the other falls into the heel receptacle and must be removed by the operator or by some other person. at the cost of an appreciable loss of time.

It is the purpose of the present invention to provide ejecting means which shall be controlled as to its operation wholly by the position of the endmost or top tier of heels in the stack, to operate only when such tier is in the position for discharge, and to opcrate more than once in case the propulsion oi the stack caused by introducing a layer of hi gh heels should bring; two or more tiers of low heels successively into the discharging Thus my invention consists in ejecting means having capability of operating in this manner. and includes the combi nation of the smile in a heel press of the sort indicated; although the invention is not Fig. 3 is a vertical section. of the top part of the press, showing the elements of the combination in greater detail than the same appear in Fig. 1.

Fig. 4.- is an elevation of the top part of the press as seen from the right hand side of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a part of the mechanism embodying my present improvement.

Fig. 6 is a sectional elevation showing the parts above the line 66'of Fig. 2.

Fig. 7 is a-sectional detail View on line 77 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 8 is a similar view on line 88 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 9 is a perspective view of the entrance end of the guide through which the trays or boards are ejected, illustrating a detail of my invention.

The same reference characters indicate the same parts in all the figures.

In the following description I shall refer to the articles which are treated in the machine as heels, although actually the same are not complete merchantable heels, but are piles of lifts coated and stuck together with wet adhesive; and I shall designate by the term boards the trays on which the heels are laid as soon as they are built, and by which adjacent tiers of heels in the press are separated from one another, these terms being thus used for convenience and without limiting intent.

The machine comprises a base 1 and a frame rising therefrom composed of corner posts 2, cross bars 3, and guide strips 4 substantially parallel to the posts fastened to the inner sides of the cross pieces 3, the function of which is to guide the boards loaded with heels and also to apply pressure to the edges of these boards, causing friction which resists their passage through the frame and so requires application of substantial force to advance them to the discharge point. This frame thus provides an extended passageway, preferably vertical in position, in

-which a stack of boards and intermediate tiers of heels are confined.

In the front side of the frame is an opening 5, beside which is mounted a shelf 6, whereon boards are placed singly and allowed to rest while being loaded with heels. Within the frame is a table 7 which normally stands at rest with its upper surface in the same plane with, or slightly below, the supporting surface of the shelf 6. This table is adapted to be elevated by means of a main shaft 8 acting through a worm and a worm wheel 9, to drive a second shaft carrying cranks 10, 10 which are coupled by connecting rods 11, 11 with the table. 12 represents a pulley which is rotated constantly and is loose on the main shaft 8, being coupled therewith from time to time prior patent aforesaid, to which reference is by the action of the operator who manipulates a handle 13 on a rod 14: to operate a clutch shifter 15 which couples the pulley to the main shaft 8 and thereby actuates the above described mechanism to raise the table and return it. The details of the clutch and the means for coupling it and automatically uncoupling it after the table has made its trip up and bacln'are fully explained in my directed, and are therefore not shown herein.

At the top of the structure which has heretofore been called the guideway, and which may also be considered as the holder for the stack of heels, there is an outlet at one side from which projects a spout 16 overhanging the open top of the cage or bin 17, which is mounted on the frame to receive the discharged heels. The guide strips 4 at the side of the frame next to the bin 17 terminate at the height of the entrance to this spout. Above the spout is a discharge guide for the boards comprised by two side bars 18, 19, plates 20, secured to these bars and passing across from one to the other and ledges 21 (Fig. 9) on each of the side bars to support the opposite edges of the board, and substantially in the manner fully disclosed in said prior patent. The outer ends of the bars are connected by a pivot rod to, fixed beams 22 which are mounted on the frame and project laterally therefrom as shown in Fig. 1. From the upper plate 20 extensions (Fig. 3) pass, and 'rest on the topmost board of the stack and are raised as the latter rises, whereby the entrance to this guide is always caused to register with the topmost board when the latter is in position to be discharged. The ledge on the bar 19 terminates short of the outer end of the bar a distance greater than the length of a board, while the ledge on the bar 18 extends nearly or wholly to the end of that bar. This board guide conducts the topmost board over the outlet for the heels and across the 11 bin, and discharges the same into a runway 24- which allows the boardto be returned by gravity into a position where they can be reached by the operator. The construction of the board guide, by which this result is il obtained is fully set forth in my prior application referred to.

The ejector removes the topmost board and the tier of heels directly under the same at each stroke, the board being conducted 120 through the guide and the heels passing over the spout 16 into the bin. This ejector is carried by a slide 26 mounted to move in proper guideways in the under side of the top plate 27 of the frame, and being 5 equipped with a rack 28 meshing with a pinion 29 loosely mounted on a shaft 30, this shaft being driven from the previously de scribed main shaft 8 by a pulley 31 on the latter, a belt 32 and a pulley 33 on shaft 130 30. A clutch head 3 1 is splined to the shaft and is adapted to be coupled with the pinion 29, having a stud arranged to coact with a stud 36 011 the pinion (Figs. 4; and 6). I

As thus far described the machine is substantially the same as shown in my prior patent referred to, having substantially the same construction and mode of operation. The new features in which the invention here claimed consist are as follows:

The shifter for the clutch head 34 is a lever 37 pivoted on a stud 38 and acted upon by a spring 39 which tends always to move the clutch shifter so as to couple the clutch head with the pinion. It is prevented from doing so by a latch 40 which is pivoted at 4L1 on a bracket 42 fixed to the top of the frame, the too of the latch normally lying in the way of the clutch shifter, as shown in Figs. 7 and 8. This latch is held by gravity in the position shown, and is returned to that position by gravity after being displaced therefrom. Displacement is effected by a link or finger 453 which is properly engaged with the latch and hangs down therefrom toward the stack, its depending end being retained in position by a guide 44. Preferably connection between this link and the latch is made by forming the link ith an opening having substantlally the same out line as the crows sect-ion of the latch, so that the latter may enter such opening. As the stack .es. the uppermost board, which is designated +5 in the drawings raises the link, which exerts pressure through the lower edge of the opening described on the latch. and so disengages the same from the clutch shifter. Any other mode of connection or engagement between the latch and the link, suitable for the purpose, may be employed. Functionally the link is a latch tripper, and may be so called.

T he ejactor-carrying slide supports up rights -56. H on which is mounted a. bar 48 DllSl-llllg over the top plate 27. and carrying two cam members if) and 50. The cam meniber i9 is a long strip having inclined cam surfz-iccs 51 and 52 at its opposite ends respectively. The cain member is a wedge block having an inclined cam surface 53, the inclination of which is oppos .,e to the ition of the cam surface Rigidly oil; at a level above the top of the cam strip 49. this arm having a depending stud car rying an antifriction roll 55. This arm 54 is secured upon a block 56 attached to the clutch shifter. and one end of the block fluns a shoulder or abutment adapted to react with a latch 57 having a notch 58 to receive this abutment. This latch is connected by a pivot SS) to the top plate of the frame. and is acted on by a spring 60 which urges it toward the abutment 56. Spring 60 ii-lied to the clutch shifter 37 is an arm is connected at one end to latch 57, and at its opposite end to a stud rising from top plate 27. 'On the upright or post 47 carried by the slide 26 is a finger 61 in the same plane with the latch 57 and adapted to disengage the latter from the abutment 56.

A weight 62 is connected to a cord which passes over a guide pulley 64 and s connected to the post 17 and thereby to the slide 26; said weight acting to return the slide and the ejector when the clutch has been uncoupled at the end of the ejecting stroke. I

The operation of my improved mechanism last described is as follows: When the stack is raised by the operation of the table, the topmost board 4:5 engages the latch tripper 43 when the topmost tier of heels has reached the level of the discharge out let. Thereby the latch 10 is tripped and the clutch shifter permitted to couple the pinion 29 to the shaft 30 by means of the clutch head 34, since the clutch shifter has a stud 65 projecting into a groove in the clutch head. The ejector is than caused to travel-toward the discharge outlet, pushing the top board into the board guide and the top tier of heels over the spout 16, being provided with a plate 25*" which is wide enough to engage all the heels in the outermost row of the tier. The ejector is pro pelled far enough to push the last heels through the outlet, and when it has reached the end of its stroke the surface 53 of the wedge cam engages the stud F5 of the lat-- eral arm on the clutch shifter, moving the latter until the clutch stud 35 is disengaged from the clutch stud 36. Thereupon the weight 62 acts to return the ejector'to the starting position. At the same time also the latch 57 which I may call the secondary latch, engages block 56 and acts to hold the clutch out of engagement until the cam strip 49 becomes effective for this purpose. It will be understood that a wide enough space is necessarily left between the cam surface 53 and the end of the cam strip d9 to admit the stud 55, and also that as soon as the ejector slide begins to return, the wedge earn backs away and would permit the clutch shifter to couple the clutch again if no means were provided to prevent this re sult. The latch 57 is the means for this purpose, and it is so arranged that its latching shoulder will overlap, so as to engage, the abutment 56 before the clutch shifter has been displaced far enough to be ar rested by the main or primary latch 40, as this arrangement is necessary because the primary latch must be so placed asito hold the clutch sleeve well clear of the pinion so that there will be no possibility of the stud 35 striking the stud 36. But it is not possible by the action of the wedge cam 50 alone to move the clutch shifter far enough for this purpose, because the slide 26 stops as soon as the clutch has been moved far enough for the stud 35 to slip past the end of the stud 36, the slide not having sulficient momentum to carry it farther, on account of the resistance to its further movement due to its own friction, to the resistance of the board being propelled by the ejector, and to the backward pull of the weight 62. Owing to the nature of the material of which the clutch is made, its elastic compressibility and the wearing away of the contiguous corners of the studs 35 and 36, these studs will become disengaged so that the former will slip past the latter before they have become separated so far as to pass entirely clear of one another without striking, and thus before the clutch shifter has been displaced far enough to become locked by the primary latch. Hence if it were not for the secondary latch, the effect would be that the wedge cam would cause stoppage of the ejector, allowing it to be withdrawn by the weight until the clutch head 34: had completed part of an idle revolution, whereupon the clutch would again engage, and the slide, with the ejector would then continue to vibrate back and forth in the same spot without ever being allowed to return to starting position, as long as the driving means remains in operation. The function of the secondary latch therefore is to hold back the clutch stud 35 to a path in which, although it may strike the end of the stud 36 in passing, it will not positively engage it, and hence will not drive the pinion. The ends of these studs may, if necessary, be formed otherwise than square with their engaging sides; that is, such ends may be beveled toward the contacting sides whereby to insure passing of one by the other without positive engagement under the conditions last described.

Immediately after the slide 26 has commenced its return stroke, under the action of weight 62 when the clutch has been released, the inclined surface 52 on the cam strip 49 engages the stud 55 and moves the clutch shifter still farther, to the position in which. it will permit the latch 40 to be come engaged in the manner shown in Figs. 7 and 8, and the secondary latch is so formed as to permit such further movement. In the construction illustrated the notch 58 in this latch which receives the abutment block 56 is enough wider than such block for the purpose. The finger 61 acts when the slide has finished its return stroke, to strike the secondary latch'and displace it out of the way of the abutment 56 so that this latch no longer opposes coupling of the clutch. This is the normal condition of the machine. It results after the ejector has completed its operation, and persists until the stack has been further raised far of the ejector, the stack should continue to a rise until the board distinguished in the drawing as L5 becoming in its turn the topmost board, has reached the position occupied by the board 45 when the operation was started. the latch is withheld from looking the clutch shifter, and the same is thereby left free to couple the clutch again as soon as the finger 61 has disengaged the secondary latch. This occurs after the end of the cam strip -19 has passed away from the stud In this way a second operation of the ejector is initiated, with the effect of ejecting the second heel board and the second tier of heels. The same effect occurs, but with more or less intervening delay, in case the main latch should have locked the clutch shifter at the end of the firstreturn stroke, but the stack should continue there after to rise. It will be noted from Figs. 7 and 8 that when the latch 10 is disengaged from the clutch shifter by being raised, the clutch shifter passes under it. The latch is freely pivoted and is able to drop by gravity upon the clutch shifter, and rest there, after the topmost board has been displaced, so that it may drop in back of the clutch shifter and lock it, as soon as the clutch shifter has been displaced by the action of the cams already described.

In the machine as I have built and operated it the drive for the ejector slide is so proportioned that the slide may make between two and three complete cycles, while the table makes one cycle; and it is within my contemplation to design the driving mechanism to effect three or more cycles during the same time. It will be seen that whatever the capacity of the driving mechanism is, the actual. number of cycles of the ejector is controlled entirely, by the position of the topmost board in the stack and the height of the heels. The operation of the ejector being as soon as the upper tier of heels has come to register with the discharge opening. The guide for the boards is always registered with the topmost board, whatever may be the actual height of the heels in the tier next under such board because the extensions 23 from the board guide rest on the topmost board, and the pivot mounting for the outer end of said guide allows such extensions and the entrance to the guide to rise with the toptravel given the stack by the heels last added thereto, all of the boards ejected during each cycle of the propelling table are delivered to the proper depository, and all of the heels are properly delivered. 7 It also follows that none of the heels will be injured by striking the lower edge of the outlet, because the trip mechanism is so designed as not to throw the ejector into gear until the highest heels treated in the machine have advanced far enough to clear the outlet. There is no opportunity for a premature operation of the ejector; or for more than. one board and one tier of heels to be ejected at the same time; or for the heels and boards to be delivered anywhere except to the proper depositories.

Another feature of the invention consists in a modification in the construction to prevent boards and heels below the topmost tier being carried through the outlet by adhering to the heels being ejected and to one another when low heels are brought to the discharge point under propulsion from a charge of high heels, and also to insure against the heels being obstructed and jammed when a change in atmospheric conditions, such as of humidity or of temperature, increases the height of the heels from that for which the machine is adjusted. The outlet for the heels is determined by the outer termination of the guide strips l on the outlet side. According to my present invention such strips l are arranged to terminate at the point r, which is at a level well below the position of the second board of the stack. Thereby, if it should happen that atmospheric conditions should cause the heels to swell, or to dry less slowly, so that they are higher than contemplated, the heels being ejected will be sure to pass through the outlet. At the same time the next to the top board is prevented from being carried along with the uppermost tier of heels by a stop 66 which is fixed to one of the side bars of the board outlet guide and projects downward therefrom below the level of 4 This stop thus crosses the plane of the second board from the top and is in the path of one edge of that board, but it is so far to one side of the heels that it does not interfere with the free ejection of the latter. The feature last described is not a condition limiting the use of the portion of the invention first described, but is an auxiliary feature serving a useful purpose when conditions are more or less abnormal.

WVhat I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a heel pressing machine having means for holding heels and boards or trays in tiers in a stack, means for adding successive tiers and boards to the stack and propelling the stack, and an ejector for discharging boards and heels; a control means for said ejector for setting the same in operation controlled by the position of a certain tier of heels in the stack.

In a heel pressing machine having means for holding heels and boards or trays in tiers in a stack, means for adding successive tiers and boards to the stack and propelling the stack, and an ejector for discharging boards and heels; a means for setting the same in operation under the control. of the endmost board in the stack, said means being successively operative by other boards upon arrival of the latter in a given position.

3. In a heel pressing machine having a guideway adapted to contain a stack of heels arranged in tiers and boards between adjacent tiers of heels, a pusher for adding heels and boards successively to the stack and propelling the same through said guideway, the machine having separate outlets for boards and heels at the end of the guideway remote from said pusher; an ejector movable across the stack toward said outlets and constructed to propel at the same time the endmost board and the next adjacent tier of heels through said outlets, normally inoperative actuating means for said ejector, and devices operated by progression of such endmost board for setting said actuating means in operation.

4-. In a machine as set forth in claim 3 the actuating means for the ejector characterized by a clutch, and a spring tending to put said clutch in the coupled condition, and the devices controlled by the board characterized by a latch for holding said clutch uncoupled, and means by which the progression of the board displaces said latch and allows the clutch to be coupled.

5. In a heel pressing machine, the combination with a guideway for heels and boards, of a reciprocative ejector mounted to travel across said guideway, and toward which a stack of boards and heels is propelled through the guideway, driving mechanism for actuating said ejector including a disconnectible clutch, potentially active means for retracting the ejector upon disconnection of said clutch, a clutch shifter, means tending always to actuate said shifter so as to couple the clutch, a stop for preventing actuation of the shifter by said means, and a. trip controlled by the advancing stack for disablin said stop.

6. A machine according to claim 5 and including means arrcnged to travel with said ejector and to cause movement of the clutch shifter for uncoupling said clutch when the ejector reaches the end of its operate stroke.

7. In a machine of the character described, an ejector, a reciprocative slide carrying the same, a rack and pinion for driving said slide in one direction, a disconnectible clutch for actuating said pinion, a potentially active yielding element for returning the slide when said clutch is disconnected, means controlled by advance of the articles treated in the machine for automatically causing connection of said clutch, and means whereby the slide disconnects the clutch at the end of its stroke in one direction.

8. The combination with a reciprocating slide, of a rotating driving element for moving the same in one direction, a yielding potentially active actuator for moving it in the opposite direction, a disconnectible clutch associated with said driving element, a clutch shifter connected with said clutch, a spring acting on Said clutch shifter tending to connect the clutch, a displaceable stop for holding the shifter in the position for uncoupling the clutch, a cam connected with the slide having a surface arranged to act on said clutch shifter and disconnect the clutch at the end of its movement in one direction, a second cam for further moving the clutch shifter during the movement of the slide in the opposite direction, and a sec ondary latch for holding the clutch shifter in the position to which it is moved by the first cam during the period intervening until it is acted upon by the second cam.

9. The COD'lbllltLtlOll with a backward and forwardly.moving traveler, a rotating driving element for rotating the same in one direction, a disconnectible clutch for transferring power to said driving element, a potentially active yielding driver for moving said traveler in the opposite direction, a shifter for said clutch, a spring acting on said shifter tending to couple the clutch, a main latch for holding the shifter in the clutchuncoupling position, means carried by the traveler for uncoupling the clutch and including two elements, one of which acts during the movement of the traveler in the first direction and the other acts during its movement in the opposite direction, and a secondary latch for holding the clutch shifter in the uncoupling position during the interim between the action of the first element and of the second element respectively.

10. The combination with a backward and forwardly moving traveler, a rotating driving element rotating the same in one direction, a disconnectible clutch for transmitting power to said driving element, a potentially active yielding driver for moving said traveler in the opposite direction, a shifterfor said clutch, a spring acting on said shifter tending to couple the clutch, a main latch for holding the shifter in the clutchuncoupling position, means carried by the traveler for uncoupling the clutch and including two elements, one of which acts during the movement of the traveler in the first direction and the other acts during its movement in the opposite direction, the second element being operative to move said shifter into the position wherein it becomes locked by the primary latch, a secondary latch for holding the clutch shifter in the uncoupling position during the interim between the action of the first element and of the second element respectively, and means carried by the traveler for disengaging the secondary latch at the end of the return movement of the traveler.

In testimony whereof I have affixed my signature.

EDWIN HANSALPAKAR. 

